Differences In The Nursing Profession

Stage 2 is characterized by a new sense of identity emanating from the development of nursing coalitions and the building of nursing's political case. This new sense of identity enabled the profession to lobby for and eventually succeed in getting Congress to establish the National Center for Nursing Research in 1985, which Congress upgraded to the National Institute of Nursing Research in 1993. Lobbying for the new nursing research entity in the mid-1980s is also an example of how nursing had to overcome internal differences as it worked toward an important political goal. The second stage also entails nurses speaking in their own language. In arguing for the importance of federal funding for nursing education and research, nurses emphasized the contributions they make to the care of patients, which required explaining the nursing component of care in health care delivery. Similarly, in lobbying for changes for state nurse practice acts to include “diagnosing and treating human responses to actual and potential health problems,” nurses had to explain to legislators the meaning of nursing diagnosis. This in turn required defining terms such as nursing diagnosis and delineating the differences between nursing and medicine. …show more content…
Nurses also found themselves explaining other issues facing the profession to non-nurses, such as the difference between nurse practitioners and clinical specialists, the many pathways for becoming a registered professional nurse, and the challenges and conflicts these options created within the